Apparatus and method for recruiting, communicating with, and paying participants of interactive advertising

Abstract

A method and apparatus for recruiting, communicating with, and paying participants of interactive advertising are described. The present invention is a system through which advertisers car recruit, communicate with, and pay their potential customers for their time. The system achieves these functions without the advertiser or the customer having to be in the same location—all logistics are handled through the system's web site, database, and communications interfaces. The system enables advertisers to promote interactive seminars in which they try to sell products to potential customers. Most importantly, the advertisers are able to offer their potential customers financial rewards for their time, such as 25 cents per minute to reward a customer for listening to a sales pitch. The system then provides a real-time communications link between the advertiser and customer. The system automatically bills the advertiser and rewards the customer for the time that they interact.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method, comprising:
 providing, by a first party to a customer, an advertisement on behalf of an advertiser to advertise an interactive marketing session, the advertisement configured to identify
 at least a reference to a telephonic connection with the advertiser for the customer to join the interactive marketing session, wherein the telephonic connection permits voice communications between the customer and the advertiser, and 
 a price to reward the customer for the voice communications with the advertiser in the interactive marketing session; 
 
 registering, by the first party, the customer to allow the customer to
 use the reference to request the telephonic connection with the advertiser to join the interactive marketing session, and 
 earn rewards from the interactive marketing session; 
 
 connecting, by the first party, the customer to the advertiser for the interactive marketing session over the telephonic connection; 
 charging, by the first party, a fee according to the price, specified by the advertiser to reward the customer, after the telephonic connection for the interactive marketing session is established via the reference between the advertiser and the customer; and 
 rewarding, by the first party, the customer according to the price for voice communications with the advertiser in the interactive marketing session over the telephonic connection established via the reference. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the advertisement is placed on a media channel. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the media channel is an Internet. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first party providing the advertisement includes providing a reference to be selected by a customer to initiate a telephone call to the advertiser. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 4 , wherein the reference includes a hyper-link to be selected by a customer to initiate a telephone call to the advertiser. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , further including
 providing, by the first party, advertisements on a media channel on behalf of multiple advertisers, the advertisements to include at least a reference to a telephonic connection with the respective advertisers; and 
 billing, by the first party, the respective advertisers in response to a telephonic connection being established between the respective advertiser and a customer. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 4 , wherein the first party providing the advertisement includes providing a reference to be selected by a customer to initiate a voice-over IP telephone call to the advertiser. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the advertisement is provided in response to a search performed by a consumer. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , wherein the advertisement is provided in response to a search performed by a consumer for geographic location. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 8 , wherein the advertisement is provided in response to a search performed by a consumer for a subject matter. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 8 , wherein the advertisement is provided in response to a key word search performed by a consumer. 
     
     
       12. A system, comprising:
 at least one processor; and 
 memory storing instructions configured to instruct the at least one processor to at least:
 provide to a customer an advertisement on behalf of an advertiser to advertise an interactive marketing session, the advertisement configured to identify at least
 a reference to a telephonic connection with the advertiser for the customer to join the interactive marketing session, wherein the telephonic connection permits voice communications between the customer and the advertiser, and 
 a price to reward the customer for the voice communications with the advertiser in the interactive marketing session; 
 
 register the customer to allow the customer to
 use the reference to request the telephonic connection with the advertiser to join the interactive marketing session, and 
 earn rewards from the interactive marketing session; 
 
 connect the customer to the advertiser for the interactive marketing session over the telephonic connection; 
 charge a fee according to the price, specified by the advertiser to reward the customer, after the telephonic connection for the interactive marketing session is established via the reference between the advertiser and the customer; and 
 reward the customer according to the price for voice communications with the advertiser in the interactive marketing over the telephonic connection established via the reference. 
 
 
     
     
       13. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions configured to instruct a computing apparatus to perform at least:
 providing, by the computing apparatus to a customer, an advertisement on behalf of an advertiser to advertise an interactive marketing session, the advertisement configured to identify at least
 a reference to a telephonic connection with the advertiser for the customer to join the interactive marketing session, wherein the telephonic connection permits voice communications between the customer and the advertiser, and 
 a price to reward the customer for the voice communications with the advertiser in the interactive marketing session; 
 
 registering, by the computing apparatus, the customer to allow the customer to
 use the reference to request the telephonic connection with the advertiser to join the interactive marketing session, and 
 earn rewards from the interactive marketing session; 
 
 connecting, by the computing apparatus, the customer to the advertiser for the interactive marketing session over the telephonic connection; 
 charging, by the computing apparatus, a fee according to the price, specified by the advertiser to reward the customer, after the telephonic connection for the interactive marketing session is established via the reference between the advertiser and the customer; and 
 rewarding, by the computing apparatus, the customer according to the price for voice communications with the advertiser in the interactive marketing over the telephonic connection established via the reference. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the price is specified by the advertiser. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 4 , wherein the price is based on a duration of the telephonic connection between the advertiser and the customer. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 charging, by the first party, the customer on behalf of the advertiser for a purchase made by the customer, from the advertiser, over the telephonic connection between the advertiser and the customer; 
 wherein the advertisement further includes an instruction to the customer on how to purchase an item over the telephonic connection. 
 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the fee comprises an advertisement fee. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 rewarding the customer in response to input requested by the advertiser and received from the customer over the telephonic connection between the advertiser and the customer. 
 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the advertisement indicates whether the interactive marketing session is currently in progress.